May The Odds be Ever in Your Favour
by MDesign
Summary: Clara has nothing. She comes from the poorest district, where she has no parents and only her two younger brothers as family. Worse yet, at thirteen, she already has her name in the Reaping 11 times. What will happen to her brothers if she gets drawn? Yet, strangely enough, she almost wants to be, because what she wants to see most is the blue sky, and the rising sun...
1. Chapter 1

My name is Clara Dukeum. I live in district 8, the textile district. We are the poorest of the districts, and my family is the poorest of the poor. I have two brothers, both younger than me, and we do not have parents. I am thirteen, and they are eleven and ten.

When I walk about our district, I can only imagine how it would be to be somewhere else. On the victory tours on the televisions they make us watch, at the justice building, I can see the sky in the background, and it is as blue as a jay's wing. I can only imagine what it must be like to wake up every morning and see a blue sky, with a golden sun rising up above the clouds. My brothers often babble about seeing that, but I scold them often, just as I scold myself, for the only way we would experience something like that would be to be drawn for the Hunger Games.

Which, speaking of that, the drawing is today, and my name is in the bowl eight times, no including the three for civil disobedience. That means I've got eleven chances to be drawn. Not a lot, in comparison, but enough to make me worry, for who will take care of my brothers if I am shipped off to the arena?

The smog surrounding the district is just starting to lighten when I rouse my brothers. They yawn and look up at me, their blue eyes wide with nerves and hope, but they get dressed quickly and we emerge from our alley home quickly, as to avoid the peacekeepers daily sweep of the streets to round up beggars like us and throw us in one of their evil child projects where they let the children stay in the factories but they must work until they drop each day. I work part-time at a seamstress's shop in the main town, and my brothers were taken in by the cobbler just across the street.

We arrive shortly at our workplaces, exchanging quick goodbyes before entering. Mrs. Goldress, my employer, looks up from her fabrics as I walk in, and she smiles sweetly at me.

"Sorry for asking you to work today. I know it's the Reaping day, but a lot of people come in early today to pick up their last minute dresses and suits for the Reaping. I'm sure you understand." She grins more sheepishly.

"Better than having to get around the streets without running into the peacekeepers. Your know how tedious those child programs are for the orphans."

"Ah, yes. And I assist you in breaking the law, so you better not get caught young lady." She scolds jokingly.

"Don't worry, I don't intend to." I smile as I sit at my table and start to stitch the fabric lain there, a light, ocean blue that ruffles out at the bottom. Looking up, I see Mrs. Goldress watch me, beaming.

"Do you like it?" She asks, motioning to the dress in my hands, nearly finished, that she had started yesterday. I nod vigorously. It was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. "Well, when you finish, you can wear it to the Reaping. I have dress clothes for your your brothers too, and Mr. Dravis has shoes for all of you as well." She frowns sadly, looking into my eyes. "Also, I got permission to take you three in and provide you with food and bed. So if, heaven forbid, you get chosen..." she shutters, "your brothers will be cared for."

"I... Thank you so much. It means a lot to me that you would think of us, and of them, in case, well just in case." I feel tears of gratitude well in my eyes.

Mrs. Goldress nods bittersweetly and we both focused back on our work. I pull the last stitch and hold the dress up to me. I look like the children from district 4 at their Reaping, when they wear flowing dresses that look like the ocean that surrounds their district, but at the same time, it looked like a reflection of the blue sky that never shows here. I look up to see Mrs. Goldress grinning at me, and I beam back.

"Well, go put it on, and then run over to the cobbler's and take these to your brothers." She points to two white, ruffled shirts and straight black pants. I nod and run into the back room before pulling off my grimy clothes from the streets and pulling on the beautiful dress. I walk to the sink and rinse my hair, like I always do before I leave work. My golden curls fall down to my shoulders, shining brightly in the candle-light.

When I emerge, Mrs. Goldress is no where to be seen, so I call out a goodbyes and scoop up the clothes for my brothers. I stride across the grey cobbled road before entering Mr. Dravis's shop, calling out a greeting. My brothers swarmed me like excited bees, buzzing about our new predicament of finally having a home, and I laugh and hand them the clothes.

"Hurry." I urge them. "The Reaping starts soon."

As they disappear, I look around to find Mr. Dravis. I see him sitting at a desk near the back of the room, but when I reach him, I realize he is snoring. I reach out to shake his shoulder, and he jerks awake, yelping.

"Oh, Clara, hi." He mumbles, embarrassed. "Your shoes are over there. You had better hurry. You need to join your age mates."

I smile and nod. "Thank you, sir. I'll see you later."

He grunts, and I can tell he is already drifting back off, so I go to where he pointed. I find the shoes lined up neatly, and I pull them down. Dress shoes for my brothers, and a pair of heals the same color as my dress and covered in sequins. When my brothers rush back out in their fancy clothes, their hair damp, I hand them their shoes.

"Tell Mr. Dravis I said thank you if you get a chance." I comment. Drew, the eleven year old with shaggy white-blonde hair grins and nods, but his eyes are shining with fear for the coming Reaping.

"We will. Right Tommy?"

Tommy nods, his green eyes wide and his golden hair bouncing over his forehead. "Yep, we will sis."

"Good. Now, come on. The Reaping starts in ten minutes."


	2. Chapter 2

People crowd in on both sides of me, jostling me around. I stand straight and try to peer over the heads to see my brothers, one in the twelve year old crowd and one outside, with the people who are safe from the drawing. Their little bodies easily fit through the gaps in the people and they stand up near the ropes, their faces tight with nerves but otherwise conflicted. I frown sadly to see them with so much worry and strife on their young faces, but it was a normal sight in this district. The others might enjoy at least twelve years of stress free life, but street-rats of 8 didn't have that luxury. I can only hope that Drew is safe this year.

My attention is drawn back to the stage as the escort, Kary Holtrik emerges from he carriage. She strides up to the microphone, her beautifully tailored dress of sunset orange and pink swirls, and her high heels, five inches tall, a perfect match. The dress is tight, following and exaggerating the curves of her body, and she has her hair in a perfect braid of carmel.

"Welcome, good citizens of district 8! How exciting that I get to join you yet again for another Hunger Games Reaping!" She chirps. I lose interest and look back at my brothers. Already, their eyes are slightly glazed form the speech that started out with little variation from every year back as long as I remember. She will just tell us about why were have the Hunger Games, and then she will tell us how much of an honor is is that she gets to be here and choose our lovely tributes for the year. Only when she states annoyingly, "Ladies first!" do I pay attention, my stomach tied in knots.

But then she pauses, unlike usual, and smiles an annoyingly bright grin. "This year, though, there is a special twist. Twice the tributes will be chosen! So now, I will choose district 8's four tributes for the 40th Hunger Games!"

She reaches one of her thin, delicate hands into the jar and swishes her wrist before plunging her hand into the papers. She pulls up her hand a second later, holding a slip. She uncurls it and calls out a name.

"Maria Lux!"

A shuffling comes from the 15 section, and I look back to see the crowd silently parts to let her through, and Maria walks onto the walkway between the children and walks to the stage, her face unnervingly blank. I watch her walk stiffly to the stage, ascending the steps silently. Kary smiles widely.

"Don't be shy, young lady. You just stand up here and look as darling as you are!" She reaches back in the bowl and pulls out another slip of paper.

"Clara Dukeum!"

Fear courses through me and I feel my muscle freeze, paralyzing me. I see the crowd looking around, and a few of them mutter to their friends in relief. Kary frowns and looks back down at the slip.

"Clara Dukeum?" She repeats, after several long seconds of silence. I take a sluggish step forward, and the crowd parts for me, flinching away as if I had some kind of deadly disease. Continuing forward, I emerged onto the passage up to the stage, and I heard a cry behind me. I looked back to see Tommy, his eyes filled with tears, duck under the constraining rope and run forward. His tears flowed down his face and fell to the ground behind him as he ran, and he bolted into me and hugged me around the middle. I stared at his head, but already I saw the peacekeepers coming for him out of the corner of my eyes. I crouched quickly and hugged him while he sobbed, until at last, the peacekeepers arrived and dragged him off of me. His scream cut through the air as they dragged him away.

For a long moment, i could move, and I feel as if my throat had swelled shut. I tried to control my breathing as I turned and walked forward, towards the stage that marked my impending doom, catching Drew's teared eye as I was walking. I smiled weakly to him, and a tear slid down his cheek, but he wiped it away and pulled on a blank look, the same that I was covering my face with now.

When i at last climbed onto the stage, I could see that Kary was shocked. She was frowning slightly, something I wasn't aware she was capable of until now. She didn't speak, only moved to the other bowl and looked out over the crowd for a moment before pulling her smile back, though it was weak, and announcing, "Time for the boys!"

She reached her hand in and pulled out her and, unfolding the paper with a flourish. I looked at Maria, and she glanced at me, and for a moment, I saw the fear in her eyes, and let her see the fear in mine.

"Daniel Lux!" Kary's voice jerked up on the last name, and I saw Maria's face crumple. She didn't cry, but she looked horrified and angry all at once. The boy's crowd split and a boy my age emerged, a shocked look on his face. His eyes were dry, and his posture strong, but he was staring at his sister, and she back at him, in such a way that told me that they were both terrified, because it was a gesture my brothers and I had exchanged many times.

Kary seemed drained of energy by now, and she reached into the bowl with little energy as soon as Daniel walked onto the stage. She pulled out a paper, letting it crumple in her fist before uncurling it and reading it with disbelief.

"Drew Dukeum!"

I felt my eyes widen and my jaw slacken as my brother walked stiffly forward, his eyes wide in shock but his eyes dry, like I taught him. He stares at me, and I see his chest moving too quickly. When he comes onto the stage, he stands to my right, and I feel fear pumping off of him, and his muscles twitch against my arm.

"There is one more change this year." Kary says, with forced enthusiasm. "Two victors with emerge from this years Hunger Games. Good luck to our tributes and may the odds be ever in your favour!"

And with those final words, we were lead off the stage and to the justice building, our holding quarters before we boarded the train to our doom.


	3. Chapter 3

Please Review! This is a project I am doing so that I can see what you guys think of my writing! I'd really appreciate support...

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The first person to visit me is Mrs. Goldress with Tommy. My youngest brother flings himself onto me and sobs, his little hands balling the fabric of my dress into his fists. Mrs. Goldress hugs me around him, but only for a minute before she steps back and regards me sadly.

"Take care of him," I say softly, and she nods, "And don't let him get shipped off to the factory. Please, I love you both." Tears well in her eyes, but she nods again, and in a silent agreement, I can see that she will care for him like her own, and forever in my memory if I don't come back. Which I doubt I will.

We stand in mournful silence except for Tommy's occasional sobs or hiccups, until the peacekeepers pound on the door and yell that our time is up. Then, calmly and silently, Mrs. Goldress pulls my brother off me and they exits from my life, possibly for the remainder of it, however long that is.

The next person to enter is Mr. Dravis. He looks mournfully into my eyes and holds my hands in his for a while before speaking.

"You know I love your brother very much, and I will do everything in my power to care for him. Rest easy with that, even if your dreams are troubled about other things." I fell my eyes tear against my will, and he pulls me into an embrace, comforting me in his own ways. It seems like the peacekeepers force us apart too soon.

After a long time of sitting in silence, all alone in my room, the door finally swings open and the peacekeepers lead me out into the hall. There, I merge with the other tributes, but the Lux's are still stone-faced. Drew looks into my eyes as if to draw comfort from that which lacks it, so I smile softly at him. He smiles stiffly back, and I remember that Kary said, right at the end of her speech, that there can be two winners, and I hold that hope close to my heart, a tiny comfort in a sea of terrors and suffering.

We reach the train by carriage, and as we enter, it is like walking into another world. The train's walls are sleek and shiny, and polished a bright silver. The furniture is so beautifully and flawlessly carved that it is hard to believe that it was real wood, and not some flawless replacement. Then there is the food. It is everywhere, in all different shapes, sizes and colors, and all of it looks delicious and exotic to a girl who has lived most of her life on the streets eating scraps until she was taken in by a seamstress and cobbler, which she then got average food for district 8. But this food, it is _Capitol_ food, and everyone knows that the Capitol has the best of everything, and that nothing there is underdone or even averagely done.

Kary starts to babble about the furniture and how lucky are that we get to experience the luxuries of the Capitol train and the Capitol itself, but I am hardly listening. My eyes cannot be drawn away from everything about this train, and for the first time since my name was drawn, I feel happy. I decide that if i'm going to die, I'm going to die, and I might as well enjoy the time I have left.

"That's the spirit, Clara! You should all be happy that you get to experience what we in the Capitol live like. Brighten up!" Kary chirps, noticing my smile. The other tributes look at me and notice my face, and I see Drew smile uncertainly. Kary nods an encouragement to him.

"So, um, can we just like, walk over to the food counter and eat?" I ask her, but I quickly add, "With a plate, fork and knife, obviously," at her horrified expression, and she looks relieved before nodding. I stride over to the table, picking up a plate on my way, and take a little of everything before going over to the set of six chairs with three tables between them, where all the others are meeting. I place my plate on my lap and look at Kary, using the fork that is familiar to me from Mrs. Goldress's house.

"Well," Kary twitters, "your mentor will be here shortly. You all know Huge Vorx. He will help you as much as he can, and he will expect you to listen."

At that moment, the door opens and a boy, only two years older than me with wavy, brown hair and green eyes walks in, his expression somber. He is well-built, but not particularly handsome, and I remember that in his Games, he won not by strength, but cunning. He had hid out in the mountain area of his arena, and whenever someone came along, he would yell and the rocks would shake loose, killing the tribute in an avalanche. He had had one ally, but she had betrayed him and ended up being killed by an avalanche meant for him.

"Huge!" Kary purrs as he take his seat across from me. "It's so nice of you to join us!"

Huge sighs and frowns at her. "I don't have a choice."

"Oh, don't be like that! You won last year, and you can help these tributes to prepare so the district 8 can win this year."

I hear Huge mutter something, but I can't hear him. Kary purses her lips, but doesn't respond.

"So," she finally says, after the silence has stretched a time. "Evaluations. What do you think, Huge? When should we choose what weapons everyone should use?"

"Well, we could do it at breakfast. Give them some time to figure everything out." I like how he said them instead of kids, because he is only a couple years older than me, and only one older than Maria.

Kary nods agreeably. "Yes, that sounds just fine. Why don't you children go wash up and change for dinner?"

I finish the last food and stand, still holding my empty plate.

"Why don't you leave that her, honey? The Avox's will take care of it." I clench my jaw at the word 'Avox,' but do what she says. She smiles at me and whispers something to Huge, making him turn his piercing green gaze on me in curiosity.

I exit after the other quickly.


End file.
